Buglife

This quiz has been kindly written by Rory Dimond from Buglife, the UK charity actively working to save Britain’s rarest little animals, everything from bees to beetles, worms to woodlice and jumping spiders to jellyfish.

If someone asked you to name an endangered species, you might think of big animals like pandas, elephants or gorillas but there are many much smaller creatures that also need our help, like snails, insects and spiders. Invertebrates (animals without a backbone) are the little things that run the world. They recycle waste, control pests and pollinate flowers so that we can grow many of our fruits and vegetables. Buglife is a UK environment charity which aims to halt the extinction of invertebrate species and to achieve sustainable populations of invertebrates for future generations. This quiz hopes to raise awareness of Buglife’s work and what they are doing to help the little things. See their website for lots more information, and help with answering the questions!

1.

Buglife’s Bugs on the Brink project aims to conserve the invertebrates of St Helena. How many unique species are found on this island?

20 species

40 species

200 species

400 species

Since so many invertebrates on St Helena are found nowhere else on earth, the habitats on these islands must be protected to prevent them from going extinct

2.

According to Buglife’s ‘Spider Bites’ page, which of these is true about spiders in the UK?

UK Spider bites can kill you

UK spider bites can cause serious injury

Spider bites can give you infections

Most UK spiders can’t bite through human skin

There are no dangerous spiders breeding in the UK, and they are more likely to run away than bite you

3.

What group of living things does Buglife work to conserve?

Bees

Bacteria

Insects

All invertebrates

Buglife aims to conserve all invertebrates in the UK and Ireland

4.

What kind of insect nests does Buglife’s ‘Nest Quest' project encourage people to record?

Carpenter Bees

Tree Wasps

Drywood Termites

Wood Ants

Send in your selfies with wood ant nests to help Buglife record where they live

5.

Buglife has a project to link up corridors of wildflower-rich habitat for pollinating insects and other wildlife. What is it called?

B-Lanes

B-Roads

B-Tracks

B-Lines

…as in the phrase to “make a bee line” for something. These corridors will help wildlife to move across the country and provide lots more food for pollinators